Innovations in diagnosing and verifying the level of success of treatment of disease have migrated from solely using external imaging processes to now including internal diagnostic processes as well. In particular, diagnostic equipment and processes have been developed for diagnosing vasculature blockages and other vasculature disease by means of ultra-miniature sensors placed upon the distal end of a flexible elongate member such as a catheter, or a guide wire used for catheterization procedures. For example, known medical sensing techniques include angiography, intravascular ultrasound (IVUS), forward looking IVUS (FL-IVUS), fractional flow reserve (FFR) determination, a coronary flow reserve (CFR) determination, optical coherence tomography (OCT), trans-esophageal echocardiography, and image-guided therapy. Each of these techniques may be better suited for different diagnostic situations. To increase the chance of successful treatment, health care facilities may have a multitude of imaging and sensing modalities on hand in a catheter lab during a procedure. However, each imaging modality in a catheter lab traditionally requires its own special-purpose diagnostic equipment. For instance, an imaging modality may require a catheter, a patient interface module (PIM), a user control interface, a display, a specialized power unit, and a processing unit such as a customized personal computer. Traditionally, all of this equipment is located in the catheter room itself during a procedure and depends on a substantial wiring infrastructure for data transport and dependable power. Physical space is typically at a premium in catheter labs and each additional imaging modality employed in a catheter lab complicates the pre-procedure setup and limits the movement of health care professionals during procedures. For example, typically, each additional imaging modality may require its own communication cable and its own power cable. These cable assemblies are often coiled under patient tables and are prone to being damaged from either being stepped on by personnel or equipment rolling over them. Cleaning the cables after a procedure is also very time consuming and difficult.
While the existing devices and methods have been generally adequate for their intended purposes, they have not been entirely satisfactory in all respects. The medical sensing systems and associated methods of the present disclosure overcome one or more of the shortcomings of the prior art.